


The Shining

by hit_the_books



Series: Brrrrrr- SPN Coldest Hits [7]
Category: Supernatural, The Shining (1980)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, M/M, Reality Bending, Season/Series 05, Team Free Will
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-16
Updated: 2016-10-16
Packaged: 2018-08-22 20:16:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,193
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8299406
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hit_the_books/pseuds/hit_the_books
Summary: Chuck's agent offers him what sounds like a writer's retreat at a hotel, and Chuck takes up the offer, inviting Team Free Will along for some R'n'R away from the (capital A) Apocalypse. It's not like anything weird could happen in the middle of Colorado in the off season, right?





	

Dean had done nothing but complain on the way up to the Overlook Hotel, the long winding mountain road testing even Dean’s ability to control the Impala. Sitting on the front seat with Dean had been Castiel, and he had taken everything in his stride. So to speak. Listening to Dean bitching and moaning.

Sam hadn’t listened to a single one of Dean’s complaints. He’d been too busy with his arms wrapped around Chuck, on the back seat, dozing, kissing and generally being far too adorable. It was not long after the _Supernatural_ convention and Chuck was still on edge about what had happened at that ill-fated event.

The invite to the hotel, from Chuck’s agent, had come just as Dean and Sam were leaving the convention, Chuck begging them to join him so he wouldn’t be alone. Dean had said yes and then invited Cas along, because even angels need a break from the Apocalypse.

It seemed crazy going up to a mountain hotel in the middle of the winter, but the weather was being unseasonably mild and if they got stuck there in a sudden snowstorm off season—what was the worse that could happen?

Rolling up to the front of the Overlook Hotel, the air crisp, Sam looked at the peaked brown roofs and brown panelled walls of the hotel. He thought the exterior looked familiar. Turning to Chuck he asked quietly, “Why’d your agent give you an invite to come up here anyway?”

“Oh, y’know, thinks I have writer’s block and that coming to this place might, y’know, inspire something. Get me writing again.” Chuck shrugged and cuddled up closer to Sam.

The car stopped in front of the main entrance. There were no other vehicles outside. Sam wasn’t sure if he’d expected the place to be teaming with other guests or not. He’d never been to a place like this before. Certainly not in the off-season. The walls of the hotel towered intimidatingly over the car and Sam felt a chill crawl across his skin.

“Alright, let’s check in, see if the bar’s open. Y’know, get settled in and just… take some R’n’R?” Dean looked back at Chuck and Sam, and then side eyed the structure beside them. Something was getting Dean’s hackles up too.

The four of them got out of the car and Sam noted that Castiel frowned as he studied the exterior of the hotel. But no one said anything as they picked up their bags and went into the hotel, heading for the check-in desk.

Inside was equally devoid of people. The cavernous space had fireplaces set, but none were lit, though the chandeliers that hung from the ceiling were on, so there was definitely power there. The decor was on the side of ‘70s cabin chic. Dean rang the bell at the check-in desk, the sharp ring echoing through the lobby, making Sam’s ears sting and forehead ache.

“Hello? Is anyone there?” Dean called and waited. No one responded.

Castiel stepped past the humans and looked around the lobby, frown deepening. He turned to Chuck and asked, “Who sent this invite?”

“M-m-my agent. Thought I could use some kind of writer’s retreat, y’know? Finally… write something new,” Chuck replied, nervously likcing his lips.

Swallowing, Sam stood beside a desk that had been set up on the opposite end of the lobby to the check-in desk. There was an old mechanical typewriter on the desk and a stack of blank papers beside it. Everything had this aura of familiarity smothering it, trying to warn and yet keep Sam blind at the same time. He stood beside the desk and really _looked_ at the inside of the hotel.

One word came clear and unbidden to the forefront of Sam’s thoughts and a churning sea of blood. “Redrum,” he said.

“What did you say?” Dean asked, rushing over to Sam, Chuck and Castiel not far behind. Dean still carried his bags, while Castiel had the rest.

“Redrum” Sam repeated, the word thick on his tongue. The hairs stood up on the back of his neck.

“Why does that sound familiar?” Chuck asked in a shaky voice.

Meeting his brother’s eyes, Sam tilted his head and asked, “Why does the hotel name sound familiar?”

Dean looked around the lobby again, spinning on the spot. “Why does this whole place look like somewhere I’ve seen before?”

Castiel rolled his shoulders and said tersely, “I have a bad feeling about this hotel, Dean.”

A gnawing sense of dread unfurled itself from Sam’s stomach and he looked around the lobby again. “There’s no one here. Is there?” he asked Cas more than anyone else.

Now never let it be known that the Winchester brothers could be intimidated by a case of the heebie jeebies, but as Castiel said, “There are no humans here, bar you three,” the instinct to run, rather than fight, was the most clear. At Castiel’s words, Chuck stepped beside Sam and grabbed his hand.

“Redrum…” Sam said quietly, the word echoing in his head, over and over.

The decision to leave was made by Castiel. Picking up all of their bags, Castiel shepherded the three of them across the lobby and back out the front door. He piled their bags into the car and made Dean sit in the driver’s seat as the three of them said nothing.

It wasn’t until they were out of the mountains and heading back East that Dean seemed to put the puzzle together. “That was… that was the damn hotel from _The Shining_!”

And though it had been a long time since he’d seen the film, Dean’s pronouncement rang true. Sam looked at Chuck and Chuck stared back at Sam in clear shock and distress. The prophet swallowed and said, “But the hotel from the Shining, the Overlook Hotel… was made from several different hotels. Like… there’s never been a single hotel that looked like it inside and out.”

Chuck, Sam and Dean’s gazes turned to Castiel and the angel looked unnerved. Slowly, he leveled his gaze at the road behind them, as if he could see the tens of miles Dean had put between them and the hotel.

“It is,” the angel began, “entirely possible that with the forces coming to bear in these times that… reality might become, how you say, a little “screwy”?”

Silence settled over the inside of the Impala. Dean hadn’t even put the stereo on yet, he’d been so desperate to get away from the Outlook Hotel. On the back seat, Chuck curled in towards Sam and shivered. Going from a haunting to a hotel from another reality wasn’t exactly what Chuck had wanted and Sam felt sorry for him.

While Dean and Castiel further discussed the possibilities of what else could happen in the end times and if the hotel would stay, Sam pulled Chuck down on him and they made out. Finally, Dean seemed to notice was happening on the back seat, swore and put on some Rush.

A few weeks later, Chuck texted Sam to let him know that his agent didn’t remember calling him about the invite to the hotel.

**Author's Note:**

> Written because: <http://spncoldesthits.tumblr.com/post/151108898700/octobers-prompt-posting-dates-15-17-of-october>


End file.
